AD | Collaboration with Visit Gent
When visiting a new place you want to make things as easy and stress-free as possible. One way to do this is to find out of your destination has a city card, which grants you entry into places like museums. On our recent visit, we discovered Ghent with the CityCard Gent!
Buying the CityCard Gent
There are lots of places in Ghent where you can purchase the CityCard Gent. This ranges from the tourist information office to museums and hotels. There are two options for the duration of your CityCard Gent; 48 or 72 hours. Visit this page to find out all of the points of sale.
We picked up our cards from the tourist information office, which is right near Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts). Your card will say how long it’s valid for but you’ll need to write the date on the back. This also works as your transport pass for the duration of the card.
What’s included with the CityCard Gent?
Getting around on public transport
By purchasing the CityCard Gent you also get use of public transport within the city, which includes buses, trams and water trams.
We arrived at Gent Sint Peters train station, which is a bit of a trek from the city centre. It was great to have use of the tram at the end of a long day so we didn’t have to do more walking. The tram lines are easy to follow with line information at the stops. This means you can figure out where you’re going easily and we never waited too long for a tram to arrive.
Museums and attractions
There are loads of museums and attractions included with the CityCard Gent. Whether you have the card for 48 or 72 hours, it’s really important to do a bit of research beforehand. You’ll want to make the most of your visit to Ghent and visit places you have the most interest in.
The Castle of the Counts
We started our day in Ghent with a visit to Gravensteen, which made sense as we didn’t have a lot of time. Gravensteen has its own tram stop so getting there is really easy, and it’s also opposite the tourism information centre. Open from 10am until 6pm Monday to Sunday (except some holiday dates) it’s a great starting point.
The castle is also known as The Castle of the Counts, and is the only remaining mediaeval castle with a moat and largely intact defence system in Flanders. Here, you can learn about the history with easy to use audio guides, get a stunning view of the city and discover the torture devices that were once used here.
Other places of interest:
Depending on your length of stay in Ghent, you might want to consider some of the following places to visit, which are included with the CityCard Gent:
- Design Museum Gent
- Belfry Tower
- Ghent City Museum
- St. Peter’s Abby
- Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art
- Museum of Fine Arts
- Ghent University Museum
Boat tours
One of the highlights of our day in Ghent was doing a boat tour. There are a few different options here for where you can do this. On the bridge close to the tourist information centre are two boat operators who accept the CityCard Gent. At the time of our visit, one required us to book on to a tour later, while the other allowed us to walk on. I guess this will all depend on how busy the boats are and the time of year you visit.
Our tour lasted for roughly an hour and the guide spoke in English, Dutch and French! As there are multiple languages spoken in Belgium this seems to be the norm for tours like this. We got to learn a lot of history about Ghent and the views were spectacular. This is something you should definitely prioritise for your time in Ghent.
Final thoughts
Our time in Ghent was made so much easier because of the CityCard Gent. We were able to do a variety of things during our visit and we didn’t have to worry about paying for everything separately. We loved the freedom of being able to use the city’s transport system, which was a real help with a pretty tired 6 year old!
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